I first got involved in network marketing in the early 1980s. As usual, I did it for different reasons to most other people. I was lecturing at Australia's largest university at the time, in marketing, organisational behaviour, visual communications, graphic design and advertising.

I'd read about network marketing and thought that if even a fraction of the claims made about it as the future of retail distribution were accurate, we should probably consider including it in our curriculum. I'd had unique insights into the pyramid selling fiascoes of the late 1960s and early 1970s and, although I knew this was different, I wasn't sure why or how. So I figured it was time to find out more.

I began asking colleagues and other sources about network marketing and was surprised by the emotional nature of the responses I received. They were long on opinion and notably short on facts. So I began enquiring internationally and found the same thing. In the end, I decided that the only reliable course was to go to the source, and I called an old friend whose regular invitations to look at Amway I'd just as regularly declined. I think it took him all of 15 minutes to travel the 35 km between us!

By halfway through his impressive presentation bells started ringing in my head. This business model made a lot of sense to me, and I could see the potential it had — if it were handled properly.

So I joined Amway with him as my sponsor. His sponsors were Emerald Direct Distributors. And we belonged to a non-IDA organisation which, I realised down the track, was a big plus.

Lynne and I won just about every award it was possible to win in our first year. I spent a lot of time researching and testing ideas, especially in areas like retail merchandising and sponsoring approaches. Our team grew quickly and we achieved outstanding retailing results using the strategies we created based on our research.

But, in 1986, I became ill as a result of severe stress. Instead of our income continuing to grow, as expected, we found that our group was being raided by crossline distributors and others. Preoccupied with just surviving my illness, we decided to let it slide. Our business dwindled very rapidly. We weren't particularly impressed, either by the failure of the concept to support us or by the less-than-ethical practices of so many other distributors and leaders.

Instead, I decided to set up in business as a management consultant specialising in the direct selling industry, including network marketing and party plan. Over the next few years I built a reputation for excellent results with a variety of companies.

In 1989, I decided to join Amway again, but this time I wanted to build with a team of people who'd failed at Amway in the past. I wanted to test my theories and strategies with people who still believed in the concept of network marketing, but who hadn't yet been able to make it work for them.

I took out full page ads in business opportunity magazines explaining what I planned to do, and invited ex-Amway people to contact me. I made it clear that anyone still with Amway was ineligible. I received several hundred replies, but more than 90% of them expressed regret that we would be working with Amway, for several reasons.

I also received a letter from a leading Dominant Homecare distributor, inviting me to take a close look at that business on the basis that it was similar to Amway, but with none of the perceived negatives. And it was 100% Australian-owned.

I was intrigued. I'd looked at Dominant when it first launched into network marketing in early 1984. I'd been unimpressed. The products were outstanding, but the compensation plan was a joke. Not even network marketing. I'd told the person who approached me to come back in five years time and, if it still existed, I'd consider joining because something very special must have happened to allow it to survive with that plan in the meantime!

Here it was, five years later, and Dominant was obviously still around. Plus, in my view, anyone with the gumption to write to me in this way deserved a hearing. So I called the Dominant leader, Terry, and invited him over to discuss Dominant.

I was impressed, both by Terry and by the attitude and abilities of Dominant's management. They'd quickly realised the problems with their compensation plan and had taken serious and prompt action to fix them. I decided to join Dominant instead of Amway, and never regretted that decision — except for my first few weeks in the business.

As soon as I received my distributor kit, I realised there was a serious problem. The materials were very, v-e-r-y ordinary. ('Amateurish' would be a charitable description.) I realised that, although I had the skills and experience needed to build a successful Dominant business without adequate tools, the people I sponsored, and their people, might not.

As a response to this I created my own tools, seeking the company's permission to use them. This included an initial distributor training system which contained a manual and audiotapes.

Unbeknown to me, at that particular time, the son of the founders of Dominant was in process of taking over the role of Executive Chairman of the company so that his father and mother could retire from active duty. He invited me to meet with him and a deal was done between us for me to re-create all of the company's literature and tools.

I immediately put my building activities on hold so that I could focus on creating the best tools in the industry. I wanted anyone joining my team to have these tools to work with. Unfortunately, I didn't realise at that point just how long the project would take.

Finally, in November of 1992, some 18 months later, those tools were ready, and so was I. By the following August, Lynne and I were into qualification as Southern Cross Distributors, and we were presented with our Dominant car in early December 1993.

I eventually resigned from Dominant in late 1999, and Lynne took over our business. I left because of a potential conflict of interest that arose when I accepted the professional role of launching another company in Australia and New Zealand. I'd built a global reputation over the years as a result of my on-line activities and my best-selling books in the Asia-Pacific region. I really wanted to find an international network marketing business to build, since Dominant was only in Australia and unlikely to expand overseas in the foreseeable future. I resigned that role when the US-based client failed to honour a number of commitments made. They eventually withdrew from the local market.

In the meantime, an old friend had acquired the Asia-Pacific licence for a US-based nutrition and personal care company. He was looking to improve the compensation plan for his international consortium running operations in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, and I was retained to create a new approach, which I completed in late 2002.

I was so impressed by his approach to the business that I decided to join as a distributor, and began to build. But, no sooner had I done so than the parent company in the USA decided to limit its focus to the USA and the US health system, terminating its international operations, along with the staff of its international division.

There was also legal action taken against the company by a major supplier over alleged patent infringements, none of which were encouraging to the local operations in this part of the world.

So the decision was made to launch a new company.

It finally launched (in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia) in late 2005. The USA and Canada are expected to launch in late 2008, with other countries due to open during 2008-2009.

I've now resigned my role as a management consultant to focus on building the best leadership team in the entire organisation, using the world-class facilities provided by the company, plus our own.

In May 2005 I launched www.FREEcoachingonline.com, a three-month training and support program for network marketers from any company, any distributor team, anywhere in the world. This is proving to be very popular with people struggling to grow their businesses, especially if they have sponsors and other upline leaders who neglect or ignore them.

Some of these people began approaching me privately to ask if they could join me, or if my Income Security system operated in other countries. So we began to explore options in order to extend the full benefits of what we do internationally.

That led us to another well-established (1983), well-run Australian company with ethical standards that are impeccable. Excellent products, a fair and rewarding compensation plan (remember, there are NO perfect plans, just better or worse — and this one is better than most) plus pro-active management attitudes made it the obvious choice as a core program for the Income Security system. It currently operates in Australia, New Zealand, Papua Niugini, Canada, the United Kingdom and the USA. Perfect!

I look forward to discussing these companies with you, and showing you how YOU can succeed using our leading-edge strategies, training and tools. Please feel free to contact me at any time using the contact details on this site.
 

John Counsel

Close this window